Housing experts discuss affordable housing issues, solutions

Thursday

Mar 7, 2019 at 12:01 PM

HOLLAND — The complexity of the affordable housing issue in Ottawa County was the focus of a panel event March 5 at the Herrick District Library.

About 50 people attended the Living Sustainably Along the Lakeshore event where four housing experts spoke, and were able to answer questions. Discussions centered around defining "affordable housing," misconceptions with the issue, possible solutions and the effect poverty and the lack of affordable housing stock has on households.

Some housing advocates prefer to use phrases such as "workforce housing" or "attainable housing," Kilpatrick said, because of the negative stigma sometimes attached to "affordable housing."

"Using different terminology doesn’t unpack the stigma that comes with the idea of who deserves affordable housing and who doesn’t," Kilpatrick said. "So what we really need to do is recognize that we all deserve some level of affordability and the real question is: How do we get it and for whom are we working?"

When people hear affordable housing, usually they picture a government-subsidized housing project, when in reality everybody deserves some level of affordable housing, regardless of income level, Kilpatrick said.

What is considered "affordable" is different for everyone, Kilpatrick said, but is generally defined as housing one can afford without paying more than 30 percent of his or her income.

A "healthy vacancy rate" to strive for would be 8 percent, Kilpatrick said, and right now that number is at 3.4 percent in Holland for rentals, and 0.2 percent for homes, according to the latest census data. Increasing this rate will push landlords with lower quality products to drive their prices down, he said.

Kilpatrick and Frederick talked a lot about flaws in how municipalities have historically zoned land, because it tends to discourage density.

Higher density in housing projects is more productive in economic value, Kilpatrick said. This is because multiple households can share public infrastructure, which is one of the most expensive costs of living.

"The real problem is the way we organize land in the cities," Frederick said. "All municipalities have a finite space. Within that space, we have been decreasing the supply of housing — systematically this is a structural problem."

Only 200 housing units have been constructed in Holland since 2010, a 1.7 increase, Frederick said, that could actually be lower because some of those units are likely off the market now.

Most planning commissions at local municipalities have been separating land uses for 100 years, and restricting housing types for about the past 70 years, Frederick explained. The solution? Upzoning.

"Upzoning is when you take your regulation book and zoning guide for the city and start taking places that were previously only available for single-family detached homes, and you make them available to multifamily housing," Frederick said.

Upzoning diversifies land use, decreasing scarcity, Frederick said. Getting upzoning to become policy can be difficult, he said, even though it supports basic fairness and increased livelihood for communities.

Another challenge to affordable housing is the cost to developers, Kilpatrick said.

"In today's market, if there isn't some level of subsidy, it isn't going to be affordable," he said.

The long-term solution is increasing the supply which will drive prices down over a long period of time. In the short-term, resources must be galvanized around those most in need, Kilpatrick said.

How are households actually affected when they have to pay more than 30 percent of their income to housing? They have to make concessions, Maxwell explained. This could mean living in more dangerous or unhealthy environments, or away from community resources.

"We see quite a varied population of different genders, ages and employment statuses," said Maxwell, who works at Community Action House.

The Community Action House food pantry serves between 1,200-1,600 clients a year, and community kitchen serves 200-400 people yearly.

"Addressing this issue is going to take a coordination of local effort which does require we have a deeper understanding of the resources we have available to us," Maxwell said.

Increased housing stock, variance in housing, and flexible housing support are important in helping people, she said.

"Conversations like this pressures the community and powers that be to pay attention to the issue," Maxwell said.

— Contact reporter Kate Carlson by email at kcarlson@hollandsentinel.com or follow her on Twitter @SentinelKate.

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